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4th Amendment

Two individuals playing on-line “Call of Duty” got in an argument over a $1.50 bet on the game. At this date, the names and locations of these two are unknown. We’ll call them “A” and “B.” A asked B for B’s home address; B responded with a valid address, but not his own. Instead, it…

In 2015, the the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation went to the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for authority to intercept communications, including email and phone calls 1,457 times. About four times a day, each and every day of the year. Want to guess how many times the FISC granted the…

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Section 215 of the Patriot Act does not authorize the bulk collection of American’s telephone records. While the decision is important, it is not the final word on the issue. Remember, we wouldn’t know about the NSA’s snooping in our phone records if it weren’t for Edward…

Thou hast committed fornication… But that was in another country and, besides, The wench is dead. – Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta The CIA Accountability Board has cleared the CIA of the wrongdoing that CIA Director John Brennan has admitted the CIA committed and that the CIA General Inspector found had occurred.. You may need…

U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven struck down as unconstitutional Florida’s mandatory, warrantless, suspicionless drug testing law, that required welfare recipients to pee in a cup before they could receive benefits. While Florida Governor Rick Scott, as pig-headed about civil rights as our own Captain Zero was, will almost certainly appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court…

Earlier this month, the U.S. Justice Department released a new, but still heavily redacted, version of the May 6, 2004 memorandum claiming that seizing the email and telephonic metadata of all American’s without a warrant was just fine. WC has worked his way through the new, slightly less eviscerated version. A typical page looks like this:…

It really doesn’t get much geekier than the Ninth Circuit’s decision in United States v. Dreyer on September 12, 2014. The case includes discussion of three different open source software applications: RoundUp, SHA-1 Hash Tags and Gnutella. There’s the obscure but critically important doctrine of posse comitatus. And, of course, there’s child porn. It’s the kind of…